Argentina Leaves the WHO and Joins U.S. in New Health System

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NEW YORK, May 30 (C-Fam) As part of an official meeting with the U.S. Health Chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Argentina reaffirmed its decision to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) and, together with the United States, replace it with an alternative international health system.

The U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr. said he had a “wonderful meeting” with Argentina’s President Javier Milei on May 27th where they discussed the two countries’ “mutual withdrawal from the WHO and the creation of an alternative international health system based on gold-standard science and free from totalitarian impulses, corruption, and political control.”

Following a meeting with RFK on May 26th, the Argentinian Health Ministry announced a shift in Argentina’s health strategy, committing to a vision of health “based on scientific evidence and focused on preventive care.”

In an official statement dated May 26, the Ministry stated that “[c]urrent evidence indicates that WHO’s guidelines are ineffective because they are not based on science, but rather on political interests and bureaucratic structures resistant to reviewing their own errors.”

The Ministry also criticized the WHO for expanding “its authority into areas outside its scope, thereby undermining countries’ health sovereignty” and asked the broader international community to “urgently reconsider the role of supranational organizations.”

Argentine Health Minister Mario Lugones said that together with RFK Jr., the two leaders discussed a “joint work agenda” between Argentina and the U.S., given that both countries believe in “the future of collaboration in global health” and “have similar visions for the direction we should take.”

During his address to the World Health Assembly earlier this month, RFK Jr. clarified that President Trump has not “lost interest in international cooperation” but rather that Trump and RFK Jr. “just want it to happen in a way that’s fair and efficient, and transparent for all the Member States.”

Secretary Kennedy also called out the WHO for allowing “political agendas like pushing harmful gender ideology to hijack its core mission.”

For over a decade, the WHO has been advocating for a vision of health that recognizes and affirms “gender identity”  as a concept disconnected from biology and champions  “sexual health” and “sexual rights” for people, asking leaders to “frame them persuasively as mainstream health” and not “fringe social issues.”

In 2023, the WHO announced the development of a guideline that would focus on five key areas, including  “provision of gender-affirming care, including hormones” for “trans and gender-diverse people.”

The WHO also called for injectable contraceptives for adolescents and co-authored a guideline for sexuality education for children that encourages kids to express how they feel about their biological sex and gender, learn that the two are not always connected, and also “acknowledge” that masturbation does not cause “emotional harm,” among other learning goals.

Last year, the WHO granted special consultative status to the radical pro-abortion group,  the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which drew criticism from conservative countries. A coalition of pro-life organizations circulated a letter to the WHO Director-General opposing this move, saying that “the CRR has been at the forefront of attempts to manipulate international cooperation to promote abortion as a human right.”

Following the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, the agency was left with “a projected $1.8 billion gap for 2026-2027.” In the face of the WHO’s liquidity crisis, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced a 20% cut of its initial proposed base budget, from $5.3 billion down to $4.2 billion.

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